THE FACTS
Gettysburg (18-9) 51, Johns Hopkins (20-7) 47
What: Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball championship
When: Sunday, Mar. 1
Where: Gettysburg, Pa.
THE SKINNY STORY
It's one of the oldest adages in sport – defense wins championships. For Gettysburg, that was on full display over championship weekend. The Bullets held Franklin & Marshall to just 45 points in Friday's semifinals to advance to their first title game since 2010. They needed a similar effort on Sunday, limiting Johns Hopkins to just 47 points for a 51-47 victory in the 2026 Centennial Conference championship game and hoisted the trophy for the first time in 17 years.
THE LEADERS
•
Reece Craft (Downingtown, Pa./Devon Prep), who had 17 points in the semifinal, led the Bullets once again in the title game with 18 points and 10 rebounds to claim tournament most valuable player honors.
FOR THE FOES
• Wyatt Eglington Manner led the Blue Jays with 15 points and four assists.
THE REST OF THE STORY
• Johns Hopkins jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the game's first 1:38 and the lead grew to 10-3 on a Wyatt Eglington Manner hook shot with 15:32 on the clock.
Alex Grospe (South River, N.J./South River) pulled up and hit a 3-pointer, though, to cut the margin to four. The lead grew as large as eight and Gettysburg found itself in an 18-11 hole before
Kosta Radulovic (Podgorica, Montenegro/Perkiomen School [Pa.]) connected on a diving layup with 8:10 showing. That drive sparked an 11-0 run that included a
Reece Craft personal run of seven straight points. A Tanti Felli putback ended an 8-minute, 13-second scoring drought. Aiden Mess (Columbia, Md./Mt. St. Joseph) and Charlie Jackson traded layups in the final 30 seconds to make it 24-22 at the break.
• Baskets from three different Bullets in the first 2:02 of the second half pushed the lead out to 30-22 and forced a Blue Jay timeout. Johns Hopkins responded with five in a row to trim the deficit to three but three points from Craft and a Grospe trey made it a 36-27 game with 9:25 to play. Mess then tacked on two free throws 42 seconds later to made it a double-digit game for the first time. The lead remained between seven and 11 points until a Logan Feller 3-pointer cut the margin to 45-41 with 1:52 on the clock. Two
Josh Herr (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg Area) free throws extended the lead back to six but an Eglington Manner steal and leaning 3-pointer sliced the deficit in half with 24.1 seconds left. Mess canned both free throws at the other end but an Evan Rainville 3-pointer trimmed it back to a one-possession game. Grospe and
Ray Zamloot (Caldwell, N.J./James Caldwell) each hit one free throw in the final 10 seconds for the final margin.
THE INSIDE STORY
• Gettysburg won its fourth CC title and first since 2009. It was the first time the Bullets had ever hosted the championship game.
•
Alex Grospe added 13 points and two assists.
•
Aidan Mess chipped in nine points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
NEXT UP
Gettysburg, which earned the league's automatic bid into the NCAA tournament, will find out its first-round opponent when the bracket is revealed at 1 p.m. on Monday. The first round of the tournament will begin on Friday.
